Playing Offense vs. Playing Defense

Playing Offense vs. Playing Defense I hate playing defense in business. It doesn’t happen all the time. But being behind a competitor in terms of feature development, scrambling to do custom work for a large client, or doing an acquisition because you’re getting blocked out of an emerging space – whatever it is, it just feels rotten when it comes up. It’s someone else dictating your strategy, tactics, and resource allocation; their agenda, not yours. It’s a scramble. And when the work is done, it’s hard to feel great about it, even if it’s required and well done. That said, sometimes you don’t have a choice and have to play defense. Playing offense, of course, is what it’s all about. Your terms, your timetable, your innovation or opportunity creation, your smile knowing you’re leading the industry and making others course correct or play catch-up. This topic of playing defense has come up a few times lately, both at Return Path and at other companies I advise, and my conclusion (other than that “sometimes you just have to bite the bullet”) is that the best thing you can do when you’re behind is to turn a situation from defense into a […]